Back at the Tunnel
by orangethyme
Summary: During her first summer of college, Chihiro finds herself back at the tunnel, she tells herself that everything will be just as she left it, unfortunately it is EXACTLY how she left it. includes Adult!Chihiro and Original!Haku
1. Chapter 1

Her fingers gently traced the stone of the tunnel. Grasses and mosses had grown in there, filling the cracks and crevices of the aging rock with soft green pillows. The wind blew slightly, not enough to move her hair but enough to throw a few fly-a-aways into her eyes. She roughly captured and shoved said nuisances behind her ear and leaned out a bit to peer cautiously into the depths of the familiar tunnel. The cobblestones on the inside were still there, they too were surrounded by the green pillows. Gathering her courage she stuck out her foot, completely ready and willing to venture back to the place that had conquered and controlled her dreams, the place where her true friends and strength were, and then she promptly put that foot right back down and crammed her face into the stone walls.

"Okay, look." She berated herself, "You've force-fed an angry dragon, been chased by a giant jelly noh-mask threatening to eat you, endured 4 years of high school and the first of college- there is absolutely no reason why you can't take one measly step into a dark place."

She tried again. Hopeless. Again. Coward. Again. Moron! Finally, she just stared at the ground and just let her legs go loose, landing hard on her butt and groaning. But hey, she'd moved a little. First step: out of the way. With that done she hurled herself to her feet and began to make her way through the tunnel.

For eleven years, Chihiro had accepted anything that had come her way. She wasn't a fantastic student, she tried to pay attention in her classes but..they were just sooo boring. She also wasn't the best athlete, forever clumsy, and she'd die before she became any kind of cheerleader. So that just left her as little, average Chihiro. Well, not as little as she'd once been. Her hair had grown, but she cut it that summer, back to a familiar length, one that she could manage by tying it up into a ponytail with a certain hairholder, and her clothes were no longer pink and green. No, no. Her style was far more sophisticated: orange and blue. Much better. Her mother always fussed at her about how she still dressed and looked like a kid, 'do something with your hair' or 'at least wear some makeup' or 'why don't you wear a skirt?' But is was because of this boyish attitude and clothing that guys liked her. She wasn't about to lie to herself and say that she'd never found love outside of her precious Haku. She hadn't had numerous boyfriends, but enough. Enough of them to have spent a few nights with a tub of ice cream, tissues and soap operas, at least. But that wasn't now. Now she was back at the tunnel, on her way to find her people once again.

Chihiro thought of them all often, she wondered how Haku looked, had his face lost its baby fat? Had he grown taller? Handsome? She didn't doubt that. And then there was Lin, Lin probably looked the same; it wasn't her style to age. Maybe Yubaba and Zeniba had gotten more wrinkles, and maybe Kamajii was still there. He had to be. She smiled but then refocused on the slowly growing bright light ahead of her. After what felt like an eternity, she emerged on the other side, surrounded by tall grasses and old, smooth river rocks. Nothing had changed. She could still make out the red building in the distance.

Carefully, she scuttled across the shallow stream and then the railroad tracks, doing her best not to fall as she made her way through the field. As she approached the structure, a floodgate of memories broke. She saw Haku's sea-green eyes and Lin's amused expression. She remembered the smell of Kamajii's herbs. She scrubbed viciously at her eyes, she would not cry today. But even then, it had been eleven years, eleven long years. What if everyone had forgotten her? What if they didn't recognize her? What if…what if some had died? Frantically, she shook her head, as though she could shake the thoughts loose.

"Everything is going to be fine." She whispered to herself, "Everything will be just the way I left it."

She wandered through the stalls before the entrance to the Bath House, being obnoxiously careful not to eat anything until the sun began to sink. She reminded herself that she didn't have Haku there this time, so she was going to have to cross the bridge an make it to those horrible stairs on her own. Her heart started pounding when she began to see strange, half-visible forms lurking around her and immediately took off to find the bridge before things got too busy.

The light got softer as she left the food stalls behind and hid behind a bush beside the traditional-style bridge wrapped in red and gold ribbon. With her heart beating haphazardly in her chest she took a quick glance and decided that it was now or never. And with that, she took off running as fast as she could across the bridge, holding her breath even though there was no magic to protect her. During this mad dash, she was able to make out the frog-like greeter and grinned to herself. Everything was really just as she'd left it. Successfully making it across, Chihiro immediately ran towards the old stairs on the side of the building. But then she stopped, something was wrong. Glancing down, she gasped at the sight of a faint outline where her fingertips should have been and looked around furiously for something edible-then she spotted it. Upon reaching the little bush with tiny red berries, she was hit with another wave of nostalgia as she recalled Haku, with his thin, nimble fingers, forcing one of the little berries into her mouth; how had he known to grab some? She wondered, quietly.

Within a few seconds, she found herself facing her old nemesis: the stairs. 'Okay, now last time was a disaster,' she thought,' this time, nice and slow and smooth.' With that, she plopped down on the first step and slowly shifted her feet over the ridge, 'Now doesn't this feel familiar' she fussed internally, hating how her face got hot and embarrassed and there wasn't even anyone around! She stood up abruptly, and gathered her courage to take one full step. It was safe. So she took another. Then another. Five steps later, she thought herself ridiculous for being such a scaredy-cat before. On number six, the wood creaked…thus sending her to the bottom of the stairs at an alarmingly short amount of time. So much for not being a scaredy-cat.

She'd barely nudged open the door when a cracking, old voice called,

"Who's there?" Kamajii. She felt her eyes begin to water as she stared at his spider-like hands and humped back.

"Kamajii?" She asked softly.

"Whoever you are, speak up! Going deaf, you know."

"Kamajii?" She tried a bit louder. He froze. Worry struck her- did she sound different? Did he not recognize her?

"Chihiro…" The humped back turned away slowly until she found herself staring at the dark-spectacled, mustached man. He seemed to study her in complete disbelief behind the dark glasses. "Chihiro, you came back.." She smiled sheepishly, trying to hide the hot liquid threatening to spill down her face.

"Yeah, Kamajii…I'm back."

A/N:

Hey people! I haven't written in what feels like decades! Been busy with school and whatnot, but now I've got the whole summer to avoid summer reading


	2. Chapter 2

It took no time at all to get reacquainted with the place. As it turned out, Yubaba just laughed at her and gave her a new contract, only this time, Chihiro just smiled and said her name was 'Sen'. Lin had jumped her the moment they'd made eye contact, dragging her off to force her into new clothes and give her all of the gossip that she knew nothing about and comment on her hair, her face, her height, the ceaseless klutziness. And just as quickly, she went back to work. Washing floors and cleaning tubs, the whole mess all over again. It was hard work, she'd forgotten just how hard. And it took a few days to get back into it, but then she was good to go. The whole time she noticed something peculiar. Everything was the same, true, not covered in No-Face goop, but the same. Nothing looked aged, nothing was replaced, nothing was even out of place at all. She brought this up to Lin right before they went to bed.

"Oh? It hasn't?"

"Yeah." She looked out of the window, munching slowly on the pork bun Lin had given her.

"Well, you're from the human world aren't you?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Things are different in the spirit world, you know. I mean, spirits don't age like humans, you've been gone for what, about a decade or so?"

"But that's such a long time, Lin."

"Not really."

"Not really?" Chihiro sat up and stared at her, "Not really? Lin, that's ten years, eleven actually! I was ten when I came here the first time. That's like 3650 days! And once you count that down into hours, it's like-"

"Not a long time at all."

"What?" Chihiro almost dropped her bun, "are you kidding me? That's an incredible amount of time, I mean, in ten years, I grew more than thirty centimeters! I started to drink coffee, learned to take medicine willingly! That's a lot to accomplish! Ten years is like-"

"A few moments, here." Lin looked over at her, her face serious. "Sen, I know things may have changed a lot for you over there, but spirits are old. Hundreds and thousands upon thousands of years old! Ten years is nothing. I've been here for far longer than that, everyone has. But once humans come over here, they get stuck. Things don't change for really long periods of time, I mean, I've barely aged a day! Anyways, just shut up and eat. We've gotta sleep soon."

Chihiro huffed and finished her food before crawling in bed next to Lin. She was just about to nod off when a sudden thought hit her. Haku was River Spirit. He was a spirit like all of the others…but did that mean? Her body forced her into slumber before she could finish that thought.

But she didn't forget in the morning. Since it was day, they just needed to clean the whole place and then they were free to do whatever. So after a morning of running, butt-up, hands on the floor, and sweeping and scrubbing, she set off in search of Haku. She bothered Lin about it, but Lin didn't know, saying something like 'he's probably off running errands or something.' From what she gathered, he wasn't really an apprentice to Yubaba anymore, he was more of an errand boy, but it seemed that others mentioned that he was often welcomed to the Bath House as a guest spirit, so she assumed that he didn't live there anymore. After an afternoon of bothering all of the kitchen staff until they gave up that he stayed down by the river, behind the hydrangea bushes and the pig pens, she set off to find her childhood love.

It took quite a bit of time to get to the place, possibly because she had to stop and reminisce at every familiar area on the way, but when she did she was quite surprised. It was really calm, the stream that ran through was clear and surrounded by tall, clean grass. The stones caused the water to bend and as a result, the little stream shined and glittered. Next to the clearing was what looked like an old shrine, it looked like it had just been painted and cleaned although it appeared empty. She carefully stepped up to the entrance and not knowing what else to do, knocked on the door softly. Footsteps suddenly echoed in the poorly insulated structure and with a rattle, the door was pulled back to reveal the one Chihiro had wanted to see so desperately.

Haku just stared at her. And she stared back. Both were quite certain that something was quite wrong with this picture. For Haku, it was that he was looking _up_ at someone who look a _lot_ like his Chihiro. As for Chihiro, it was that she was looking _down_ at the once man of her dreams. She remained shocked and scrutinized his face. The baby fat was still there, his cheeks still looked soft and his eyes still a touch big. His hair had not changed and still hung in a long, neat style, but his clothes weren't blue. Behind him, folded by a modest table, lay the pair of turquoise pants and white shirt that she was used to seeing him in; what he wore was a white, decorative version of those clothes. But they seemed lighter, as though he was wearing pajamas.

"Ch-Chihiro?" His voice hadn't changed, perhaps then it had sounded deeper, but now it sounded like the voice of a child, the voice of a boy barely into puberty.

"Yes," she said. He glanced behind him and then moved out of the way.

"Please, come in." She nodded and entered, making sure to kick off her shoes at the step. Gingerly, she sat down at the modest table as Haku disappeared momentarily and reemerged with two tea cups, both filled with a pale green steaming liquid. He sat down across from her and studied her. She resembled his Chihiro, the eyes, the shape of her nose, the hair tied up in a ponytail. And she'd confirmed that that was her name, but…she was so…big, so grownup. Not like his Chihiro at all. Quietly he blew on his tea before taking a sip and then looking back at her.

"Haku," she started, pulling him out of his trance, "Haku…you're so little…" He looked surprised at her. He was little? Who was she to call him little? She was just a pipsqueak not too long ago, shorter than him, even! But as he opened his mouth to voice this opinion, she started speaking again,

"Haku, I'm so happy to see you again. I missed you, a lot." He studied her, he could sense her restlessness.

"I missed…you too?" He tried, but couldn't. "Chihiro? Why are you so big? I don't understand, I mean, you were smaller than me not too long ago, and why did you come back here so soon? Is that okay for you? What about your parents?"

"Well," It was her turn to look uncomfortable, "Lin told me that spirits and humans age differently, that time passes differently for them. In my eyes, it's been a really, really long time. But I guess, for you-"

"It hasn't."

"Well, are you okay with that?"

"Okay with what?" He cocked his head slightly.

"With me being so much older than you?" She blushed, never once had she thought of herself as old. Her blush only increased when Haku suddenly started laughing.

"Why would I be?" He smiled, brushing at his eyes a little bit, " I mean, you came back didn't you? Are you going to stay here?"

"No, I-" she couldn't even continue from the look on his face, "I mean, I- Haku, I _can't._ I have school and my parents and my friends…I just came to visit, is that okay?" he looked back up at her and nodded slowly.

"Yes, of course that's okay. It's your choice, your life." He smiled a bit, but it actually hurt Chihiro, she could hear the unspoken 'I have nothing to do with it.'

"So," Haku shuffled a bit and caught her eye, "Are you staying in the bathhouse?"

"Yeah, Lin's already hooked me up with my old bed." She grinned at him, hoping to lighten his mood. She hadn't meant for them to meet like this, it was supposed to be happy, exciting, fun! But she just couldn't be when she looked at his almost sad face.

"I see. And you have no parents to rescue this time?"

"Nope, didn't even bring 'em with me." He looked away again. She could have sworn she saw something in his eyes. "Haku," She leaned over and touched his hand, "I'm here, I'm finally here. What's wrong? Are you lying to me? Is it 'cause I'm so much bigger than you?" The reaction she got wasn't exactly what she had anticipated. It was a slow nod, but he'd turned his face as to not look at her. She knew exactly what that meant; she'd babysat enough kids in her life to understand the strange phenomenon of little boys looking the other way so that she couldn't see them cry. "Oh Haku. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come, I knew it was all too good to be true. But even still, it's nothing to cry about."

"Who's crying?" His voice was determined, she blinked, not ever once thinking that she would have to play this game with Haku of all people, to her he'd always been the epitome of maturity…maybe that was because she was so immature as a kid. Well, that would explain it. She sighed,

"You are."

"I'm _not_." He growled, face still turned away from her.

"Yes, you are. Don't try to be tough about it." She wanted to take that back immediately.

"So, I'm trying to be tough." Haku whipped around to face her, "_I'm_ trying to be tough when my best friend comes back more than a head taller than me? _I'm_ trying to be tough when someone who I thought I knew isn't the person in front of me? _I'm_ trying to be tough when someone who I thought understood me is sitting before me talking to me like some stupid _child_ pouting? You're-You're not the Chihiro I knew." There were indeed streaks down his cheeks, and his anger was definitely _not_ helping. Chihiro blinked, in her mind, Haku was always older, he was always laughing or serious, but never did he have tears in his eyes or red on his cheeks. She said nothing as a droplet of her own slid gracefully from the corner of her eye to her chin.

"Haku, I'm sorry. I didn't think, I didn't know it would be like this. If I had, I would never have come, if I knew it was going to hurt you, I wouldn't even have considered it. I'll leave. Okay?" He said nothing as she stood quietly and made for the door, trying to stifle her sobs of hurt and upset, at least until she was a distance away from the place. But something caught her shirt as she was about to open the door. She stopped moving and almost jumped when she felt thin arms wrap around her torso. Lifting her arm, she found a familiar jade head nuzzled into her side.

"Hey, Haku, I don't mean to ruin a moment," she said, swallowing thickly, "but I kinda gotta go before sunset-"

"Don't go." She blinked at the muffled words. He wanted her to stay? "Don't go…" he said something else, but she couldn't quite make it out

"Haku, I don't speak shirt, would you kindly speak to me in a human language?" Determined green eyes shot up and met hers.

"I said, 'Don't go,'" His eyes were red and threatened to let the water fall again, "Because I miss you and I love you and I don't want you to go away again. Even if you are bigger than me and talk to me like some dumb kid. You're still my Chihiro, right?" She felt her own dam fall and suddenly swamped him in a hug, smiling the whole time.

"Yes I am your Chihiro and I won't, because I miss you and love you, too. Are you my Haku?" She pulled back and saw his smile, and her heart melted. Maybe she should have waited all that time, because this was someone who would never break her heart.

"Of course."

A/N: And so, chapter 2 is done. Gah, I'm dying of clichéd fluff…but it's so cuuuute.


	3. Chapter 3

After a few moments, the two broke apart. Haku smiled softly at her and went to reheat the forgotten cups of tea. As he settled back down across from her, Chihiro noticed a slightly confused expression on his face, like he was puzzled with his own thoughts. She watched his face, his green eyes flickered back and forth, as though he was trying to find something, even his hands seemed fidgety. Then, without any warning, he ducked down behind the table. Chihiro raised an eyebrow. Okay, so maybe that was just a little weird…

"Hey, Haku?" She dared to ask, "um…what exactly are you-" He popped back up, now wielding something in his closed hand. A sheepish smile told her that he wanted to give it to her. He leaned forward and offered it to her, hand still closed. Okay…so maybe that was a little weird too.

"Chihiro…you said you love me right?" She nodded and he blushed a little. "I've heard that in the human world, people who love each other give each other rings, is that true?" Again, she nodded, he was going a bit far with this, wasn't he? "I see…well, I don't have a ring or anything like that, but…I do have this and I want you to keep it."

He gently pulled her hand and carefully placed the artifact into her palm. She smiled at him, then examined said object. It was an old coin. The edges were rusted with age and if there had been a carving on it, it had been worn away. This must have been the closet thing Haku had had to jewelry. He seemed to be shuffling and fidgeting on his side of the table again, reminding her vaguely of an excited terrier. Then he bounced up and disappeared again and she began to believe that the small shrine was endless and without warning, no pattering of feet or shuffling of clothing, he was suddenly right next to her, tenderly slipping the coin out of her grasp. At first she was a bit hurt, thinking that he'd thought she hadn't liked it and was going to take it back, but just before she was going to open her big yap and say something about it, Haku started winding what appeared to be a leather cord around the coin. He fought with it momentarily (Chihiro took back what she'd thought of him being like a terrier…more like an excited kitten, she decided), then tied a knot towards the top and held out his hand to her.

"Haku, what-" Apparently, she was being noncompliant and he pulled her wrist towards himself and wrapped the cord around it, then tied it off in what appeared to be a draw-string fashion, so that she could take it on and off. "Oh, thanks, I love it." She smiled, she had to admit, the coin looked much more appealing as a bracelet.

"I'm glad." Haku smiled at her again, then looked back down at the bracelet, and for a second, Chihiro could have sworn she'd seen something dark flash across his eyes, feral and almost…possessive. _Oh fantastic_ she mused to herself, holding her wrist up to get a better look, _I have officially been dubbed dragon territory._

They stayed like that for a short while before Haku looked up, it was night. Chihiro sighed. Lin was gonna kill her if she didn't go back soon. Quietly, she stood, not wanting to break Haku's concentration, not that anything she did went according to plan as his eyes immediately locked onto her.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I don't want to suffer Lin's wrath if you know what I mean." She said while rubbing the back of her head nervously. He nodded, but stood up and followed her out to the entrance of the shrine. "Okay, well, I guess I'll try to come visit you tomorrow?"

"No, I'll visit you."

"Huh?"

"I'm working tomorrow." Oh. She'd forgotten that he still worked for the- wait did that make him a part-timer? She almost laughed at herself, trying to imagine Haku in the back of a store where she lived, wearing a baseball cap and apron, carrying crates of oranges…no he was just too pretty.

"Oh, so-"

"I'll come visit you." She felt oddly like she'd been dismissed. Well, yes sir, Mister Mini-Dragon, sir.

"Then I guess I'll see you later. Bye!" With that she started to make her way back towards the faintly glowing red building. She only got about five meters before she felt a sudden weight physically tackle her. Looking down, she smiled as she saw jade hair and felt those thin arms wrapped around her torso once again. "Good night, Haku…" She said, running a hand through the soft locks. A muffled 'good night' returned, but he didn't let go. She was beginning to fear that she would have to bodily remove him when he abruptly let go and grinned, then bounced back to the little structure and waved once before closing the door. She bit her lip to keep from having one of those 'oh my god, that's so cute!' moments and (for real this time) made her way back to the bath house.

**oOoOoOo**

"He did what?" Lin stared at Chihiro sternly, having already given her a lecture that would have made an English teacher proud.

"He gave me this." She pointed to the bracelet. Lin just sighed.

"Sen, you know you're property now, right?"

"I am not."

"Yes you are! Don't try to deny it! Don't you know what that is?"

"Um…well it's a coin, Lin. We generally use them for currency and in some countries-"

"Sen, don't make me hurt you…what happened to my quiet, little, obedient, klutzy, Sen? Oh, she was so cute and dumb, she'd listen to anything I'd say, no questions asked. But now, I have this…tall, know-it-all, but still just as ignorant Sen who doesn't even know that she's been claimed by a friggin' DRAGON."

"I haven't been claimed. It was a present."

"A marking, you mean. Like how some bears scratch trees to show that it's their tree, yeah, you just became a tree, hon."

"Lin, why do you hate Haku?"

"I don't hate him…" Lin worried her lip, trying to think of some slightly friendlier way to say 'I just hate him'. "Look, I'm just worried about you, I mean, ever since you left, Haku's been more trouble than he's worth. He used to just work for Yubaba, but then she started just using him as her messenger and then she sent him down here to do chores and whatnot with all of us. And we were okay with that and everything, but he's changed, he's more…human now."

"It's probably because he's got his name back. He's finally found his personality again. I mean, he wasn't nearly as cold or unfriendly to me when I went to see him. Maybe that's how he was supposed to be. How is he trouble?" She tried to imagine Haku getting into trouble…no, she just couldn't do it, he was too obedient. Lin sighed.

"Since you've been claimed and all, you'll find out tomorrow."

"I'm not claimed!"

**oOoOoOo**

Chihiro tried to move her body, but found that something heavy was restricting said movement. Lin had a tendency of jumping/laying/sitting on her when she was late, so needless to say, she was shocked to find green eyes instead of brown staring straight into her face. Shocked, she bolted up straight, holding the covers of her futon to her chest and glaring daggers into the rather unceremoniously ruffled Haku in her lap.

"Haku." She glared; mentally she was impressed at his lack of fear. "This is the girl's dorms."

"Good morning." He smiled.

"Did you hear me?" she bit back her snarl, never having been a morning person.

"Yes."

"Then why are you still here?"

"I came to say 'good morning.'"

"Good, thanks, good morning to you, too. Now, out."

"Why?" What was up with this friggin' annoying twelve-year-old attitude?

"Haku, can you read?"

"Yes."

"Good, I want you to go stand by that door and tell me what it says."

"It doesn't say anything; it has a pink sign on it."

"What color are you wearing, Haku?"

"Blue."

"What color do the ladies wear?"

"Pink."

"Now, out." He smiled and took off without question. Chihiro stared…she had a feeling that Lin was right.

She got dressed and pattered off to find Lin, tying her sleeves back as she went. She found her in one of the corridors, with a number of other girls, getting ready to clean floors and she snatched one of the soaking rags, then slipped in beside her. Lin smiled.

"Mornin' sunshine, didn't think you'd ever wake up."

"Lin.."

"Hmm?"

"I know what you meant about Haku…"

"Ah, so he came to visit you? He does that periodically. I think he _likes_ to be yelled at." Chihiro sighed and continued on with cleaning, thinking of how her legs were going to look like a body-builder's by the end of summer. Then reflecting on Haku's strange behavior, clingy, loving…annoying…he really was a sweetheart, she knew that, he had been so nice and relatively calm last night. Maybe he was just excited (the terrier came back to mind).

Lin dragged her off through the daily chores, only now that she was older, she got some kitchen duty. They were scrubbing out one of the tubs, knee-deep in soapy water and scum when her visitor returned. At first neither had noticed him, but then Chihiro looked up, and there he was, watching like a hawk. Lin looked up.

"Whaddya want, Haku?" She bit out. He shook his head then scurried off, over the side of the tub and down the hall. Lin paused to watch him. "He's really protective of you, you know?"

"What?" Chihiro gagged as she tried to wring out her now sludge and soap soaked sleeves, retying them, tighter this time.

"He's been checking up on you all day." Chihiro continued to scrub furiously.

"No, he hasn't. I haven't seen him anywhere."

"Sen," Lin put her hand on her hip, "You aren't exactly the most aware of your surroundings are you? He was in the hall for the floor sweep, by the door in the kitchens, and on the rafters out in the sheds. He's been stalking you all day. And that's all cool with me; just as long as they don't decide to let him help again."

"Why? Is he not good at it?"

"No, he works just fine, maybe even better than a good chunk of us, but he's so friggin' annoying. My god, all he wants to do is bother us, I swear." Chihiro smiled, she was beginning to like this playful Haku.

At about five in the evening, all of the cleaners were sent off to bed or dinner or whatever they chose. Chihiro went back to the dorms; almost expecting to see Haku perched on her bed, but was relieved to see otherwise. She lay down; thankful for the quiet and emptiness and pondered how this all was going to work. She knew she would have to go back to the human world soon, before the summer ended. There was still school to get back to. But what about Haku? He would be horribly upset if she left again, horribly didn't even begin to cover it. And she didn't want to see him cry again; just the thought tugged at her heart a bit. But she couldn't take him with her…or could she? Maybe if she took him to the human world, he could catch up to his age? But he was probably hundreds of years old, what if he shriveled up? She flipped onto her side, facing the window. Maybe there was some priest or someone here, maybe even Zeniba, who would know how to make him bigger? But what if Haku didn't want to get bigger? How about if she got smaller? But then everything she'd worked for, all of that school and those jobs, all of it would be for naught! If she got smaller there was absolutely no way for here to go home, her parents lived far away from her now and they wouldn't believe that their daughter de-aged. No one would. If they did, they'd put her in a lab or something, and they would probably take Haku, too, if he was with her. No, her going down was not an option. She would have to find some way to get Haku to catch up…maybe she should go ask Zeniba…

A strange sound interrupted her thoughts, it sounded muffled, through the door, like yelling. She rolled over half-way to see what the problem was when the door literally slammed open.

There was Lin, red-faced and fuming, snarling almost. And…there was Haku, hefted over her shoulder, struggling, just as red-faced. And in that small moment, she understood the relationship between the two of them, they were like older sister and kid-brother. Lin rounded onto her.

"SEN! Take this….this thing! And just- just-just I don't even know! Just do something with him! Get him outta my sight and outta my hair and outta my LIFE!" She placed (read 'dumped') the equally fuming Haku onto her lap and pointed furiously at him. Chihiro, in her surprise, protectively pulled him closer, as all in the bath house, even the frogs, feared Lin's rage. What she did not expect was for Haku to struggle against her.

"I am NOT a THING! And if you just would just kept your trap shut then-"

"What did ya say you little punk?"

"I said that you should shut your mouth for five seconds of your life and listen to what I have to say!" Lin leaned in a grabbed the front of his shirt, bringing him from Chihiro's lap to her eye-level.

"Haku, I don't care what you have to say. So why should I waste five seconds of my life for some no-good, puny, rude, people-claiming,_ annoying_, little punk?"

"Lin, I think you're a no-good, selfish, defiant jerk, but I still waste my life listening to you scream at me everyday! And stop calling me a THING! You want me to call you _human?_ Because I will be more than happy to-mmph?"

Chihiro examined the expression Haku was currently giving her with her hand clamped over his mouth, it was slightly amusing, one of confusion and anger, she'd never seen anything like it. She removed Lin's death-grip on the front of his shirt and made sure that he was safely on the ground before looking at the two of them. They were just staring at her like two guilty kids on the playground.

"What happened?" She asked, removing her hand from Haku's mouth, where she feared for a second that he might bite it. Lin blinked before coming around first.

"This little monster-" Haku snarled at her, possibly further proving her point, "Came up behind me like a friggin' _ninja_ and tried to kill me." She seemed proud of this explanation.

"No!" Haku bit back at her, "_She_ was screaming and flailing a broom around like a madwoman and I thought she was going to hurt someone, so I tried to stop her!"

"You mean 'kill me!'"

"_Stop you._ If I'd wanted to kill you, I'd have done it ages ago, but instead I put up with your-"

"Okay, enough, stop." Chihiro sighed. Feeling like she was babysitting all over again. "Haku, you need to stay out of Lin's way, she's fine and she's not gonna hurt anyone, I promise. Lin, I don't know why you think he's so annoying, he's just trying to help, so lay off, please. Now, guys, grow up." Haku looked at her mournfully before suddenly tackling her with a hug. Chihiro blinked and carefully hugged him back, catching something of a muffled 'I'm sorry, Chihiro…"

"Don't apologize to me, say 'sorry' to her." He stared up at her and glared back at Lin grumbling something of a "sorry, no-good, selfish, defiant, jerk_ human_…"

"Sorry, ya little, punk, _monster_…and stay outta my way." Lin sniffed and glared at him. Chihiro sighed, this just had to be so much more difficult. Lin stalked off, but not before snapping at one of the other girls downs the hall. Chihiro looked down at Haku who peeked back up at her behind hiding in her side again.

"Haku…" She dislodged him and forced him to look at her. "You really like Lin don't you?"

He grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

A/N: Another one done. Sorry if Haku's all OOC, I mean, I imagine he'd be much more fun after he got his name back. And I just love the idea of Haku and Lin and a Big sister-little brother relationship makes me happy. Thanks to those who reviewed!

Next time it'll start to get serious.


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